A verse or two in Sam Henry somewhat different from posted versions.

Lyr. Add: IF I WERE A BLACKBIRD

When I was a young maid, my fortune was told
That I'd fall in love with a young sailor bold,
He courted me fondly by night and by day,
But he's gone and he's left me, he's gone far away.

If I were a blackbird, I'd whistle and sing,
I'd follow the vessel my true love was in,
And on the top riggin' I'd there build my nest
And lie the night long on its lily-white crest.

My love's tall and handsome in every degree,
But my parents despise him because he loves me,
But let them despise him and say as they will,
While there's breath in my body I will love him still.

My parents despised him because he was poor,
But I loved him better, I loved him the more,
But now he has left me and gone far away,
My heart it is breaking for my own sailor boy.

He promised to buy me at the bonny bright fair
A bunch of blue ribbons to bind round my hair,
But he's gone and he's left me, he's gone far away,
And I'm breaking my heart for my own sailor boy.

No date, no source. Published in "The Northern Constitution" [Northern Ireland]. With music, "key F sharp."
Sam Henry, 1990, "Songs of the People," pp. 428-429.